The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership (Hardcover)

~ John Wooden (Author), Steve Jamison (Author)
Key Phrases: competitive greatness, Coach Wooden, Pyramid of Success, Preseason Letter (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Essential Wooden--more leadership lessons from the Wooden playbook

The Essential Wooden is the ultimate collection of Wooden’s opinions and observations on achieving exceptional leadership in any organization, with 200 invaluable lessons for inspiring championship performance.

Coach Wooden offers his hard-won wisdom on building an organization that performs at its full potential under pressure, from preparing and training the team to instilling personal drive and dedication. He takes his famous Pyramid of Success to the next level, filling the entire book with his straight-shooting personality and keen insight on human nature.

Wooden shares rarely seen preseason letters to his players, revealing how he instilled productive attitudes and winning ways. He also includes previously unpublished analyses from former players and managers, including Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

From Wooden’s earliest days as a leader through his legendary UCLA dynasty, The Essential Wooden distills a lifetime of learning into the leadership playbook for the twenty-first century.

From the Back Cover

“A sure winner! The Essential Wooden presents the basics of leadership as taught by one of America's great leaders, John Wooden. His observations and conclusions about success and competitive greatness are as brilliant as gems--and just as valuable.”
--KEN BLANCHARD, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Leading at a Higher Level

“The Essential Wooden is vintage Coach Wooden and a great book for all managers who want to become more effective. Coach Wooden's values and methods will lead to lasting, positive results.”
--JEFF HENLEY, Chairman of the Board, Oracle Corporation

“It has been my privilege to have several conversations with John Wooden. Every time I learn and grow from that experience. It is now your turn to receive nuggets of wisdom from this wonderful teacher. Each page of The Essential Wooden will benefit you and your organization.”
--JOHN C. MAXWELL, author, speaker, and founder INJOY Stewardship Services and EQUIP

“A wonderful exposition of commonsense leadership from an uncommon leader--John Wooden. His legendary achievements stem from his 'old-fashioned' values. In The Essential Wooden he reveals how his character and skills were honed and how they apply in the 21st century. Required reading for anyone who aspires to being a great leader.”
--STEPHEN R. COVEY, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

"There is nothing fancy in what I teach about team building--nothing that requires a special gift, privilege, or access to power. Rather, it requires dedication to certain principles and concepts, which I include in this book."
--John Wooden

The Essential Wooden is the ultimate collection of Wooden's opinions and observations on achieving exceptional leadership in any organization, with 200 invaluable lessons for inspiring championship performance.

Coach Wooden offers his hard-won wisdom on building an organization that performs at its full potential under pressure, from preparing and training the team to instilling personal drive and dedication. He takes his famous Pyramid of Success to the next level, filling the entire book with his straight-shooting personality and keen insight on human nature.

Wooden shares rarely seen preseason letters to his players, revealing how he instilled productive attitudes and winning ways. He also includes previously unpublished analyses from former players and managers, including Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

From Wooden's earliest days as a leader through his legendary UCLA dynasty, The Essential Wooden distills a lifetime of learning into the leadership playbook for the twenty-first century.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071484353
• ISBN-13: 978-0071484350
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,257 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The John Wooden method of success., February 1, 2007

By	Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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When it comes to leadership and team building, few professions compare with the ranks of organized sports coaches. From the ranks of coaching we have been given a vastness of leadership training with which to shape and improve our lives. Every venue of athletics has made its' coaching contributions. From football, we have the hard nosed precision of Vince Lombardi and the stoic presence of Bear Bryant. Baseball has given us the lighthearted leadership of Casey Stengal and the chess game cunning of Jim Leyland. Boxing has produced such brilliant motivators as Lou Duva and the no-nonsense yet compassionate Eddie Futch. And basketball has been no exception from the explosive emotionalism of Bobby Knight to the intensity of Pat Summitt. But even among such greats as these, when it comes down to success, few can even be mentioned with the name of John Wooden.

His leadership and team building philosophy differs from many, lacking the emotionalism and intensity of what coaches typically display, and I wont go so far as to say Wooden's methods are better, but they certainly proved to be a championship building formula for him. In fact, Wooden even guarded against allowing emotions to reign supreme in his players.

The book focuses primarily on Wooden's 15 component Pyramid of Success. Wooden explains why each component is a part of the pyramid and why it is located where it is within the pyramid. There are also bits and pieces of letters to his teams as well as brief comments from his former players throughout the book.

I don't believe this is the best book with Wooden's name on it, but it is certainly, as expected, filled with sage advice ranging from simple profound statements to more complex principles of leadership, team building and ultimately, success. If you appreciate, as I do, that the coaching profession has produced some of the greatest leaders of the last century and you want insight from one of the best of the best, you'll appreciate this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let Wooden be your guide., April 19, 2009

By	Cameron L. Whitworth "Uncle Whit" (on the Beach) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a teacher in middle school. I am also a former active duty soldier and a current reservist. I find Wooden's ideas practical and inspirational. Read it. Absorb it. Apply it. There are lessons for life, learning and basketball. His lessons would be equally effective i the classroom, boardroom, or the battlefield. Don't pass it by.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Principles in Business and Life, January 30, 2009

By	Tom Wynn "Tom" (Fayetteville, GA) - See all my reviews

John Wooden exemplifies selflessness. His model for winning and success is infallible. What I got out of this book was the principle of listening to yourself and not trying to live up to other people's expectations. You do what feels right for you. The other valuable lesson I got out of this book was selflessness. In this world, you don't get to where you want to go by being selfish. What I was so impressed by so much was his definition of "winning". If you give it your best effort in a competition, than you have won, regardless of the score. This man is truly a legend.